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Wednesday, April 10, 2013

DIY: Custom My Little Ponies!

You know there are a ton of ponies from the show
that you'd love to have in toy form!
Well, at least the list goes on and on for us...
starting with Daring Do...and enters the realm of our own custom ponies!
Here's a fabulous way to make a custom pony!

Meet Tropical Mist.

And yes, in her previous life, she was a haircut Sunny Days.

To begin, get a "bait" pony.
Find a pony at a yard sale that the little girl has cut the hair...
Or just buy a $5 My Little Pony at the store.
We tested our plan on our duplicate Sunny Days.
As the mom, sometimes I get sick of all that tangled up hair...snarls and knots!
I often wished that the hair was plastic too!

Give that pony a buzz.
Now you want to leave the tufts of hair still there,
because the clay will adhere better.

Get some oven bake clay.
Ours was white. If you find the color of clay that you want the hair...I would
do things in a different order. (Paint pony. Then sculpt hair. Then bake)

I sculpted on the mane and basically just made
dreadlock, worm, snake like tendrils, with sweeping bangs.
I could have taken more time...but like I said, she was our test pony.
I will next time.

Once you do the mane, you are ready for the tail.
I used an x-acto knife to rough up the area around her pony tail.
This gives the clay something to adhere to. Although it's terribly hard to see in the photo.
You could also use some sand paper.

Sculpt on the pony tail...

Put her on your baking sheet standing up.

She will get very soft in the oven.

Bake according to the clay instructions.
Ours baked at 275* for 15 minutes.
When removed from the oven she was a very squishy pony...let her cool without moving her.
Once cooled, about 30 minutes later, she has hardened up again!

Get your acrylic craft paint!
Paint her whatever color you like!
(I should have sanded off her cutie mark first, but didn't...the paint still covered it fine)

Easy around the eyes. I kept her eyes the same, so I was very careful as I painted.
I should have taken more time to get it just perfect...
but even at this point I wasn't sure the outcome!

I did a blend of pink and coral hair!

And a hibiscus cutie mark!

Then, spray it with a clear gloss.
This was the finish it needed!

Seriously, Mind Blown--right?!

If you do a custom pony, please email us a picture! :)

Now, because we used bake hard clay,
I think the fragility factor just went up on the pony.
I wouldn't give this to my 5 year old to play with...but
my 9 year old can handle it.
Just keep that in mind if you put lots of work into it!